Just a couple of interesting tidbits which happened in that hurricane of action before the redraw:
The of Stanislav Alekhin hit the perfect flop, giving him a set against the overpair of Daniel Negreanu.
It all got in on the flop, with the ensuing doubling the up-till-now quiet Alekhin to 460,000+ and dropping Negreanu to a level not seen since yesterday (full counts coming in the break).
Over on the feature table, Brandon Adams was simultaneously doubling up Ivan Demidov, who spiked an ace to crack his .
Preflop, Philippe Rouas raised to 12,000, only to find button Demidov reraising to 29,500. He made the call, and they both checked the flop. On the turn, Rouas bet out 50,000, called by Demidov.
The river brought the and with a large pot already brewed, he topped it off with an odd 99,500 bet (leaving himself just 75,000 behind). As the other table dashed for the break, Rouas considered the bet, eventually calling the bet.
Demidov flipped a winning which he was probably delighted he'd reraised with now. Up to a comfortable stack of around 450,000.
Talal Shakerchi - 415,000
Justin Smith - 540,000
Bengt Sonnert - 610,000
Toni Hiltunen - 287,000
Daniel Negreanu - 450,000
Soren Kongsgaard - 256,000
Brandon Adams - 245,000
John Juanda - 1,110,000
Stanislav Alekhin - 510,000
Mike Matusow - 211,000
Philippe Rouas - 362,000
Ivan Demidov - 340,000
Chris Elliott - 300,000
Johnny Lodden - 415,000
Scott Fischman - 340,000
Peter Neff - 333,000
Robin Keston - 150,000
Brian Townsend - 215,000
The action since the break has largely consisted of small pots, with no one player on either table really taking the lead. Few pots seem to be making it past a flop, and who can blame our players, as the sharp increase in prize money at the final table stage makes it worth their while staying in until the final nine.
Standing by the non-feature, or less-feature as it has now become, table, I am watching Chris Elliott take the blinds uncontested with a raise from the hijack, when I notice that Scott Fischman is in possession of what appears to be a Full Tilt-branded iPhone. Most impressive, merch-wise.
At last, a hand makes it as far as the turn, and it is Chris Elliott who takes it down. Blind on blind, Ivan Demidov and Elliott saw the board and Demidov, the small blind, bet 17,000. With barely a pause, Elliott raised to 35,000.
Demidov squinted at the board for some time, while Elliott turned silently behind his Terminator sunglasses. Eventually Demidov's expression turned to one of confusion and then on to one of resignation, and he folded.
With few large pots so far this level, it was understandably interesting to the players on one table when those on another got into an on-their-backs situation just now. Robin Keston, hitherto very quiet today, raised preflop and big blind Johnny Lodden called him.
The flop came which set off a (very brief, as Keston was the short stack) raising war which saw Keston all-in with his and Lodden with the ever-dangerous .
There could be imagined no brickier bricks than the which fell on the turn and river, so Keston bumps his stack up to around 280,000.
Robin Keston made it 17,000, called by Brian Townsend and big blind Scott Fischman. Keston bet 20,000 on the flop and Townsend folded but Fischman check-called.
When they both checked the turn and river, it was time for a showdown, but Fischman didn't want to show -- he thought that because it was Keston who had bet last, it should be him who had to show. However, as he was in the small blind position and there had been no aggressive action on the river it was in fact Fischman's duty to turn his cards over, and he had nothing to worry about as his was very much ahead of Keston's .